Using an internet tuner with a Mac

[Muse]

My niece's husband sent me an email. I really like this guy and would like to help him but I'm not familiar with these issues. For one thing, I'm moderately strong in PC issues, but very stupid with Macs. This guy loves music a ton. Can you help with this? He says:
- - - -
I have a technical question, and you are the only one that I can think of
that might have some insight. I recently purchased an internet tuner that
can access the music from my home computer. The receiver provides native
support for Windows Media Player, versions 10 and 11. However, my computer is a Mac, which means that I have to add Universal Plug and Play software that the device will recognize. The manufacturer recommends EyeConnect. But, I read that EyeConnect does not support iTunes. Are you aware of a better solution, one that is ³Apple friendly?²

 

[TheStu]

Ok, and I understand that you are just an intermediary, but as I interpret it, the situation is;

He has a home server?, upon which resides all his music. He has a laptop? that holds less than all his music that he travels? with and wants to be able to access it over the internet.

In this situation I would install iTunes onto the server and on the laptop. Spend $25 to get iTunes Match.

This depends on how much music he has of course. IIRC iTunes Match only goes up to 25K songs, not sure how that plays out vis a vis purchased, uploads, matched and the like.

 

[KeithP]

From http://www.elgato.com/elgato/na/mainmenu/products/software/EyeConnect.en.html

EyeConnect is based on the globally trusted Universal Plug and Play™ Audio/Video standard (UPnP™ AV) for the seamless sharing of digital content throughout your home. Using this industry standard technology, EyeConnect enables a broad range of UPnP™ AV devices to play EyeTV recordings, digital music, video, or photo content, including iPhotos®, iTunes®, and movies stored on your Macintosh. Elgato’s EyeConnect digital media streaming software addresses a rapidly growing market for home networking solutions for the Macintosh.

It would seem that it does support iTunes. Plus, there is a fully functional 30 day free trial available so that he can try it out himself.

-KeithP

 

[Muse]

Ok, and I understand that you are just an intermediary, but as I interpret it, the situation is;

He has a home server?, upon which resides all his music. He has a laptop? that holds less than all his music that he travels? with and wants to be able to access it over the internet.

In this situation I would install iTunes onto the server and on the laptop. Spend $25 to get iTunes Match.

This depends on how much music he has of course. IIRC iTunes Match only goes up to 25K songs, not sure how that plays out vis a vis purchased, uploads, matched and the like.

He's a busy guy, they are a family of four. He uses a smartphone a lot for sure. I'm sure he has a laptop, probably a Mac, and he probably wants to have his music available from that. The two kids have their own laptops, but I don't know that anyone but him is going to be accessing this. IOW, I don't know if the server thing is in play here. They may or may not have a desktop in the house. Maybe they have a wireless router, that would make sense for sharing the internet in their house. I'll give him a link to this thread, probably we can sort this out.

 

[Muse]

From http://www.elgato.com/elgato/na/mainmenu/products/software/EyeConnect.en.html



It would seem that it does support iTunes. Plus, there is a fully functional 30 day free trial available so that he can try it out himself.

-KeithP

Yeah, I saw that, did a search on EyeConnect after starting this thread. Seems that maybe the info he got that it didn't support iTunes wasn't correct. Maybe the support isn't all it could be? Don't know what that's about.

 

[TheStu]

He's a busy guy, they are a family of four. He uses a smartphone a lot for sure. I'm sure he has a laptop, probably a Mac, and he probably wants to have his music available from that. The two kids have their own laptops, but I don't know that anyone but him is going to be accessing this. IOW, I don't know if the server thing is in play here. They may or may not have a desktop in the house. Maybe they have a wireless router, that would make sense for sharing the internet in their house. I'll give him a link to this thread, probably we can sort this out.

If it is all on the same network, then iTunes Home Sharing will work.

iTunes has any number of solutions in place for streaming music from the cloud, or within your own home. It was one of the first things I missed when i got my Windows Phone 7 phone (ugh, I hate that phrase).

However since it appears that EyeConnect works (and if he has already bought the software) then roll that way.

 

[manly]

Comparison of UPnP AV media servers

"internet tuner" meaning UPnP over the Internet? Wonder if that's secure.

Elgato's (unrelated) EyeTV is best of breed, but I didn't find EyeConnect to be nearly as good a few years ago. PS3 Media Server (not just for PS3) is popular but also a heavyweight Java app.